Scrabble Letter Values - The values of all tiles in Scrabble I Words Scrabble Letter Values A list of all the Scrabble letter values. Playing a word and not sure what the values of each tiles are? This list of all the Scrabble letter points has everything you need to know to calculate the tile points. Sign up for our Free Scrabble Words newsletter. We won't send you spam or share your email address with anyone. We Promise. Free Scrabble Tips! Privacy Policy SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Words with Friends is a trademark of Zynga With Friends. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. Wordfind.com is not affiliated with SCRABBLE®, Mattel, Spear, Hasbro, or Zynga with Friends in any way. This site is for entertainment purposes only. All content Copyright © 2010 - 2015 White Urchin Ventures, Inc. All rights Reserved. Scrabble: Should letter values change?

- BBC News BBC News Scrabble: Should letter values change? By Laura Gray BBC News 15 January 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel The values of the letters in Scrabble were assigned according to the front page of a US newspaper in the 1930s. Is it time the scoring system was updated to reflect today's usage? All Scrabble players know that Q and Z are the highest scoring tiles. You can get 10 points for each, in the English language version of the game. But according to one American researcher, Z really only deserves six points. And it's not just Z that's under fire. After 75 years of Scrabble, some argue that the current tile values are out of date as certain letters have become more common than they used to be. "The dictionary of legal words in Scrabble has changed," says Joshua Lewis, researcher and creator of a software program which allocates new, up-to-date values to Scrabble tiles.

"Among the notable additions are all of these short words which make it easier to play Z, Q and X, so even though Q and Z are the highest value letters in Scrabble, they are now much easier to play." Joshua Lewis's program is called Valett and it recalculates the letter valuations by looking at three things. What is Scrabble? Players make words on a board and earn points according to the value of the letters they use They have seven letters each Every word has to join a word already on the board So to get rid of all your letters, you would usually need to think of an eight-letter word The winner is the player with the most points when all the spare letters have been used and one player has no letters left How to win at Scrabble Firstly, there is the frequency of the letters in the English language. Secondly, the frequency by word length - how many times a letter appears in two, three, seven, and eight-letter words. And finally, he looked at how easy it is to play the letter with other letters. For example, Q is a difficult letter to play so would warrant a higher score than S, which can be played with many more.

According to Lewis's system, X (worth eight points in the current game) is worth only five points and Z (worth 10 points now) is worth six points. Other letter values change too, but less radically. For example, U (one point currently) is worth two in the new version, G (two points) becomes three and M (three points) becomes two. Not all letters change under these proposals but those that do tend to have fallen in value. In explaining why his overall point distribution is lower, Lewis blames Q which, as he puts it, is an "outlier", much harder to play than other letters. It is a game of luck and changing the tile values wouldn't achieve anything Philip Nelkon, Mattel, Scrabble manufacturer "You get this justified separation between Q at 10 and Z and J at six, and in general the non-Q letters are a bit more compressed in value." He looked at increasing the value of Q to 12, but decided against putting too much power in a single tile. Lewis is not the first to propose an updated version of Scrabble, says John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association.

He says he hears from people once or twice a year saying that the tile values are incorrect. In fact this has been happening ever since the game was invented in 1938 by the American architect Alfred Butts, who calculated a value for each tile by measuring how frequently each letter appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Letter scores that would change Source: Joshua Lewis "Alfred Butts had a selection bias in favour of printed newspaper English which many people have suggested ought to be rectified," says Chew. But is there a market for a revised version of Scrabble? If the tile values changed there would be "catastrophic outrage", says Chew. "Some people would just continue playing with the old tile distributions because people who've played the game often enough tend to remember that the Q is worth 10 points, the Z is worth 10 points and so on." What's more, he says, seasoned Scrabble players know there is an important difference between the value written on a Scrabble tile and that tile's real value when played in a game, a notion he calls "equity value".

So a blank tile or an S have an equity value that far outstrips their face value because they can easily earn a player so many points. So could Scrabble tiles really be changed to adapt to our evolving vocabulary? No, according to Mattel, the company which manufactures Scrabble in Europe. "Mattel has no plans to change Scrabble tiles. It is not a game where fairness is paramount, it is a game of luck and changing the tile values wouldn't achieve anything," says Philip Nelkon, Scrabble's UK representative. More or Less: Behind the stats Listen to More or Less on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or download the free podcast More stories from More or Less Even Joshua Lewis, inventor of the new system believes the traditional valuations can make the game more exciting. "You're really lucky if you pick an X because it's over-valued and unlucky if you pick a V. So if they were to re-do the values of the tiles that would reduce the level of luck.

"That might be desirable in tournaments but it might not be as good in casual play where you want the less skilled players to have a shot periodically at beating the more highly skilled players." So those players who rely on good luck when playing Scrabble can breathe a sigh of relief. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook 10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble | Mental Floss 10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble Hasbro Like us on Facebook Whether you consider winning at Scrabble a case of extreme luck or supreme spelling ability, here are 10 words that—if conditions are right—will help you trump any opponent. 1. Oxyphenbutazone Definition: An anti-inflammatory medication used to treat arthritis and bursitis. Conditions: The theoretically highest-possible scoring word under American Scrabble play—as calculated by Dan Stock of Ohio—has never actually been played … and probably never will (unless you’re really, really lucky). That’s because it has to be played across three triple word score squares and build on eight already-played (and perfectly positioned) tiles. Points: 1,778 2. Quizzify Definition: To quiz or question.

Conditions: Not only will you need to draw the game’s only Q and Z tiles (there’s only one of each), but a blank tile, too (in place of the second Z). Play this verb as your first word across two triple word squares with the Z on a double letter score square and you’ve got the game’s most valuable eight-letter bingo. Points: 419 3. Oxazepam Definition: An anti-anxiety drug. Conditions: All that stress will melt away if you can build on one existing letter , play across two triple word score squares, place one of the most valuable tiles (i.e. X or Z) on a double letter score square and net a 50-point bingo. Points: 392 4. Quetzals Definition: The national bird of Guatemala as well as one of its monetary units. Conditions: Placement is everything to score this whopper of a word: Building on one letter, use all seven letters on your rack for a 50-point bingo, with Q and S on triple word score square and Z on a double letter score space. Points: 374 5. Quixotry Definition: A romantic or quixotic idea or action.

Conditions: In 2007, Michael Cresta used an already-played R and all seven of his tiles across two triple word score squares to earn the most points ever on a single turn, which aided in a second record for the full-time carpenter: the highest-ever individual game score (830 points). Points: 365 6. Gherkins Definition: A small pickle, made from an immature cucumber. Conditions: In 1985, Robert Kahn paid tribute to the pickle at the National Scrabble Championship in Boston—using an E and R already on the board—to set a record for a non-bingo word score. Points: 180 7. Quartzy Definition: Resembling quartz. Conditions: “Quartzy” held the record for highest-ever single turn score until “Quixotry” nearly doubled its total in 2007. Play it across a triple word score square with Z as a double letter score, with a 50-point bingo for using all seven letters on your rack. Points: 164 8. Muzjiks Definition: A Russian peasant.

Conditions: On its own (with no bonuses or extra points), “muzjiks” is worth an impressive 29 points. But exhaust all of your tiles on your first turn to spell it, and you’ll earn more than four times that—which is what player Jesse Inman did at the National Scrabble Championship in Orlando in 2008 to earn the record for highest opening score. Points: 126 9. Syzygy Definition: An alignment of three celestial bodies. Conditions: Forget trying to pronounce it (though, for the record, it’s “SIZ-i-jee”). Instead, just remember how to spell it—and that it’s worth 21 points au naturel . You’ll need one blank tile to make up for the lack of Ys (there are only two in the game). For a higher total, land the Z on a double letter score square and the final Y on a triple word score square. Points: 93 10. Za Definition: Slang term for pizza. Conditions: Big words are great and all, but two-letter words can also score big . And be especially annoying to your opponent.

Build on two As—one directly below, the other directly to the right of a triple letter square—to spell this two-letter delectable across and down. Points: 62 Is Inc A Scrabble Word? - You Go Scrabble! You Go Scrabble! About Is Inc A Scrabble Word? Scrabble the word Inc. A scrabble help & word finder with 32,502 scrabble words including Inc, with 7 letters or less. The letters check out, and has been verified in our scrabble dictionary. If Inc is listed on You Go Scrabble, Inc can be used in a scrabble game. With 3 letters, there's 6 combinations inc can be arranged. Definition a heterogeneous collection of groups united in their opposition to Saddam Hussein''s government of Iraq; formed in 1992 it is comprised of Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurds who hope to build a new government Inc Has The Following 3 Letters There is one c . 2% chance of pulling the c. There is one i . 9% chance of pulling the i. There is one n . 6% chance of pulling the n. 5 Points Worth 5 points , leaves you with 4 scrabble tiles.

From the letters cin, you have 0 words you can make, and 159 words with the letters "cin ". Probability / Chance The probability of Inc in a game of scrabble is 0.000668% which is 1 out of every 1497 hands (not pulled in order of spelling). There are 6 ways the letters can be arranged in your tile holder. Scrabble Words Starting With c 159 Words With The Letters CIN" Can you gain points with other words by using the tiles on the board, or another tile in your set? View a list of words that use the tiles cin Cousin +3 points Tweet What is the probability of pulling the, the letter, or set of letters in a game? Every word on You Go Scrabble! provides the probability and other math for your scrabble curiosity. All number data on this website, provided by You Go Numbers! . All words on this website, are provided by You Go Words! . *New Game!* Scrabble words starting with A-Z or ending in A-Z . The most requested are X scrabble words and Q scrabble words . Find scrabble words worth 2-31 points .

You can also find words that contain letters from a-z, filter only the a words , b words , c words , d words , e words , f words , g words , h words , i words , j words , k words , l words , m words , n words , o words , p words , q words , r words , s words , t words , u words , v words , w words , x words , y words , z words , or view all scrabble words This page was last updated on Dec 3, 2016 and has been viewed by 646 people. View the privacy policy and terms of use . Disclaimer: Scrabble information on this website is family friendly and English only words. Definitions including names in scrabble letters, are derived from user contributed queries. This is not an official scrabble dictionary. Words brought to you by James Cordeiro of You Go Media , ©2016. Scrabble Rules - How to Play Scrabble - Official SCRABBLE Rules Scrabble Rules Links to Scrabble rules and Scrabble official game instructions. Two to four players play in any game of Scrabble. The object of Scrabble is to score more points than one's opponent.

A player collects points by placing words on the game board. Each letter has a different point value, so the strategy becomes to play words with high scoring letter combinations. The Scrabble Board A Scrabble game board is made of up cells in a square grid. The Scrabble board is 15 cells wide by 15 cells high. The Scrabble tiles fit within these cells one to a cell. Scrabble Tiles Scrabble is played with exactly 100 tiles. 98 of these tiles contain letters on them, while there are 2 blank tiles. These blank tiles add a wildcard aspect to Scrabble. The blanks substitute for any letter in the alphabet. Once played, a blank tile remains for the remainder of the game the letter for which it was substituted when first played. Various letters have different point values, depending on the rarity of the letter and the difficulty in playing it. Blank tiles have no point value. Tile Values Here are the point values for each letter in Scrabble. 0 Points - Blank tile. 1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U. 2 Points - D and G. 3 Points - B, C, M and P.

4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y. 5 Points - K. 8 Points - J and X. 10 Points - Q and Z. Extra Point Values Some squares on the Scrabble board represent multipliers. If a tile is placed on this square, then the tile's value is multiplied by a factor or either 2x or 3x. Certain tiles multiply the point value of an entire word and not simply the tile on that space. Double Letter Scores - Light blue cells are found isolated on the board. When a tile is placed on this space, that tile's point value is multiplied by two. Triple Letter Score - This is a dark blue cell on the Scrabble. The tile placed on this square has its points multiplied by three. Double Word Score - Light red cells are found running diagonally towards the four corners of the board. When a player plays a word on one of these squares, the point value of the entire word is multiplied by two. Triple Word Score - This is a dark red square on the Scrabble board. These are found on the four sides of the board equidistant from the four corners of the board.

When a word is played using this square, then the points for the word are multiplied by three. One Single Use - Note that extra point squares are only usable once. If one player plays a word using this cells, then the next time that space is used to make a word, the point value is not multiplied. Starting the Game Without looking into the tile bag, each of the Scrabble players takes one tile out of the tile bag. Whichever player has the letter closest to the beginning of the alphabet goes first. A blank tile is considered better than an "A". These tiles are placed into the bag once more. Starting the game, each player begins their turn by drawing seven tiles apiece from the bag. The player can do one of three things on a turn. The player can place a word, exchange tiles or pass. Most of the time, the player will take the option of playing a word. Exchanging tiles allows a player to replace anywhere between one and all of the tiles on the player's rack. If this option is taken, the player cannot do anything else that hand. Therefore, a tile exchange cannot be performed on a turn when the player places a word on the board. A player may pass at any time.

If all player's pass twice in a row, then the game ends. The First Word Score A player begins the game by placing a word on the star square at the center of the board. This star acts as a double word score. The star cell does not act as a double word score for subsequent players playing off the center square. Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board. Replacing Scrabble Tiles When a player places tiles on the Scrabble board, that player draws new tiles from the tile bag, adding until that player's number of tiles equals seven. The player must not look at the tiles when choosing new ones. Tile selection is usually done by holding the bag above the eye line, then reaching into the bag to add tiles one by one. The Fifty Point Bonus When a player is able to place all seven tiles from the tile rack on the board at the same time, that player receives a 50 point bonus. In end game scenarios, when the players hold less than the standard seven tiles, a player does not get the 50 point bonus for using all the tiles on the rack.

The End of a Scrabble Game When all of the tiles have been taken from the bag and one player has used all of the tiles on their rack, then the game ends. Tallying Scrabble Scores Once the game has ended, each player counts the points on the tiles left remaining in their rack. Each player has that number deducted from their final score. The player who ended the game and who therefore has no more tiles remaining is given an added bonus. Add the total of all points of all remaining players with tiles left on their racks. This number is added to the final score of the player who is "out" of tiles. The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied wins. Accepted Scrabble Words Players may place any word which can be found in a standard English language dictionary. Official Scrabble dictionaries also can be found in bookstores and online. Types of words which cannot be used are abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes. Words that require a hyphen or an apostrophe cannot be played. Words that are spelled with a capital letter cannot be used. Generally speaking in an English-language game of Scrabble, foreign words cannot be placed on the Scrabble board.

If those words appear in a standard English dictionary, then the word is allowable. This is because the word is spoken often enough by native English-speakers that it has become a part of the English language. See also: Scrabble Tile Distribution and Point Values By Erik Arneson Updated September 29, 2016. One of the first things that beginner Scrabble players should learn is the game's tile distribution. It's vital to know that, for example, only one J, K, Q, X and Z are in the bag -- and that they provide the best opportunities for high scores.

Scrabble Tiles Listed by Point Values 0 points: blank/wild (2) 1 point: E (12), A (9), I (9), O (8), N (6), R (6), T (6), L (4), S (4), U (4) 2 points: D (4), G (3) 3 points: B (2), C (2), M (2), P (2) 4 points: F (2), H (2), V (2), W (2), Y (2) 5 points: K (1) 8 points: J (1), X (1) 10 points: Q (1), Z (1) Scrabble Tiles Listed Alphabetically Blank/Wild: 2 tiles, 0 points A: 9 tiles, 1 point B: 2 tiles, 3 points C: 2 tiles, 3 points D: 4 tiles, 2 points E: 12 tiles, 1 point F: 2 tiles, 4 points G: 3 tiles, 2 points H: 2 tiles, 4 points I: 9 tiles, 1 point J: 1 tile

, 8 points K: 1 tile, 5 points L: 4 tiles, 1 point M: 2 tiles, 3 points N: 6 tiles, 1 point O: 8 tiles, 1 point P: 2 tiles, 3 points Q: 1 tile, 10 points R: 6 tiles, 1 point S: 4 tiles, 1 point T: 6 tiles, 1 point U: 4 tiles, 1 point V: 2 tiles, 4 points W: 2 tiles, 4 points X: 1 tile, 8 points Y: 2 tiles, 4 points Z: 1 tile, 10 points h2g2 - Scrabble - the Word Game - Edited Entry 1 Conversation The game of Scrabble requires its players to form words on a 15 by 15 grid by arranging 100 lettered tiles in a crossword style 1 .

Alfred Mosher Butts, an architect 2 , invented it in 1938, as he thought that word games lacked popular appeal due to the lack of a competitive scoring system. He originally created a game called 'Lexico', but having altered the rules and reformed the game, he changed the name to 'Criss-Crosswords'. Unfortunately, it was not very successful, and Butts failed to sell the game to a games manufacturer. When lawyer James Burnot bought the rights to the game in 1948 it finally became 'Scrabble'. As well as renaming it, Burnot adjusted the rules and the board, and engaged in successful marketing of the revised game. Today, Scrabble has become extremely successful, with about 33 million people playing the game regularly in North America alone. The America-based National Scrabble Association boasts more than 10,000 members, while there are Scrabble clubs and associations as far afield as Nigeria, Singapore, New Zealand, Bahrain and the UK. The Game A player wins a game of Scrabble by accumulating the most points before the game ends.

You receive points by placing words from your random selection of seven tiles on to the board, from which you derive a score based on the individual letters. You can expand your point-winning potential by: Placing tiles to add a single new word to the board in such a way that you actually create one (or more) words additional words due to modification or extension of adjacent existing words (see Gameplay, below). Placing tiles to create very long words. Placing words with letters that have lots of points. Using premium squares to your advantage (see below), especially where in combination with one or more of the above. The game ends when a player has used all of the tiles on his rack with none left to draw from the central pool. If this does not occur, the game continues until all players can no longer play, ie all players pass their turn because they cannot form a word with their remaining tiles. Sometimes, the game simply ends when all players agree that the game is over. Components A standard Scrabble 3 box contains: Board Rules booklet Gameplay At the beginning of the game, each player has a tile rack. They each draw seven letters and place them on the rack. The player that goes first 4 puts the first word on the board.

One tile of this word must be in the centre square. The centre square is a 'premium square' (see below), so the score for the first word is doubled. From there, players may add one or more letters interconnecting with or adjacent to those already on the board. These letters must form new words or modify an existing one. You get points for every letter you used. Where you modify an existing word, you can score for tiles you didn't place on the board. The rules for creating words are as follows: You can pluralise a word, and if you add one or more letters then you get points for the entire new word. When you play a new word on the board it must interact with one or more letters already placed on the board. In this way, all words on the board should be connected. You may not add words diagonally; nor can a word read upside-down or back to front. The tiles that one puts on the board must be adjacent, either horizontally or vertically, with a word already played. If letters from a word touch letters from words parallel to them, those letters must also form words. If you form more than one word in this way, you get points for all of the words created.

For example, if you lay TORN parallel with the right-hand side of the A in CAT, you would score for TORN, AT and TO. If one letter from a word you play adds to an existing word, you get points for the new word and the word you modified. For example, if you place the word WASTE horizontally at the base of the middle of the word BARN, you will score for the words BARNS and WASTE. When your turn is complete, you should announce your word and the amount of points earned. A scorekeeper should record the amount of points you earn each turn. After you successfully place a word in your turn, you must draw enough tiles from the central pool to bring you back to seven. You may also forfeit your turn to exchange some or all of your tiles. You do this by replacing a number of your existing tiles with the same quantity of new tiles (provided that there are more than seven tiles left to draw) from the draw bag. If there is any doubt of whether a word exists, a player may challenge that word before the next player starts his turn. The players should look up the word in a specific dictionary agreed on before the game began.

If it is not a recognised word, the player challenged loses his or her turn, removes the offending tiles from the board, and receives zero points. If it is a word, the challenger loses his or her next turn. You may play outdated, slang, colloquial and archaic words - if they appear in your dictionary of choice. You can also play foreign words where they have common usage in your own language - and, again, appear in your dictionary of choice. However, you cannot play abbreviations, suffixes and prefixes, proper nouns or words that need additional punctuation (such as hyphens and apostrophes). Of course, many dictionaries do not include all verb endings, pluralisation and tenses. Normal usage of these is acceptable, but the players should read the introduction to the dictionary to understand how it explains this or abbreviates different forms of a word. Official Reference The international Scrabble community has had various approved and authorised dictionaries, used by sanctioned clubs and tournaments. These dictionaries derive their content from specific dictionaries or amalgams of multiple dictionaries - and different countries have used different official reference books over the years. The official references include: Official Scrabble Words (OSW) - Derived from Chambers Dictionary.

Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) - Derived from several references, including the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. SOWPODS - Derived from a combination of the OSW and the OSPD. The book's name is an anagram of the two acronyms. Tournament Word List (TWL) - Based on the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary with adjustments specifically for tournament play. Scoring and Points Scrabble scoring is based on a system of points. The game assigns a specific value to each letter, normally printed on the corner of each tile. A player receives this number of points for placing the letter as part of an unchallenged word. Butts knew that some letters appeared more often than others did, so he decided to come up with a system to find out which letters appeared most and which appeared least. He counted letter usage in newspapers, deciding on a number and value for tiles depending on the frequency with which they appeared. He eventually came up with this model: Letter 10 1 A player determines the score of a complete word by adding up the value of all of the individual letters. For example, the word MUG is worth six points, while the word RAISE is worth five points.

The shorter word is worth more because it uses less common letters than the longer word. Additionally, there are dozens of 'Premium Squares' that multiply the value of a letter or word when you place tiles across it. There are four types of Premium Squares: Triple Word Score - triples the value of a word that has a letter on it. Located at the corners of the board and the middle of each of the edges. Double Letter Score - doubles the value of the letter that is placed on it. Double Word Score - doubles the value of the word that has a letter located on it. Triple Letter Score - triples the value of any letter placed on it. If a letter falls on more than one Premium Square, you calculate the letter score first and then the total word score. If a player modifies a word with a letter on a Premium Square, the letter only counts at its regular value. You can only get the benefit of a particular Premium Square once per game. Good players use these squares in combination to score substantial points. Placing a 'Q' on a triple letter score will earn you 30 points alone. Other rules about scoring include: The letter pool includes two blank tiles that you can substitute for any letter you need to complete a word.

The blank has no value in scoring and retains the same value for the rest of the game. For example, if you use it to substitute as a Q to spell REQUEST, it remains a Q for the rest of the game. A ' Bingo ' is a play where all seven available tiles are used. It gives the player an extra 50 points in addition to his score from his word points. At the end of the game, each player totals up the sum of the value of his remaining letters. The player should then deduct this total from their score before determining overall scoring for the game. Non-English Editions The whole of the previous section relates to the English edition of Scrabble. Non-English languages place different emphasis on different letters in word construction and, indeed, even use completely different letters. For example, the German edition of Scrabble values a Y at 10 points, while a Z only scores a meagre 3 points. The set includes tiles for Ä - worth 6 points, Ö - worth 8 points and Ü - worth 5 points. Tips You can find many tips for playing Scrabble . Indeed, people have written whole books on the subject.

Here are just a few hints you might consider: There are many words with a 'Q' that don't have a 'U' in them. They include FAQIR, QABALA, QABALAH, QADIS, QAID, QANAT, QAT, QINDAR, QINDARKA, QINTAR, QOPH, QWERTY, SHEQALIM, SHEQEL and TRANQ. Just make sure you have a dictionary that supports your innovative use of the letter Q! In the end game, when you find tiles in short supply, if you find your self with the Q, try QI 5 . Plan for Premium Squares. A small word played on a Premium Square can score better than a longer word elsewhere on the board. You score six points if you play the word 'AN' on a triple word score square, whereas the longer word 'RAINS' is worth a point less played across ordinary squares. Create and use words that can be easily added to. Pluralising a word is a good way to earn the points of a word twice. The letter 'S' is a useful tool to take the points of a noun by pluralising it or turning it into a verb.

Leave space open to make additional plays. Consider your next move and don't leave yourself without space to create new words. At the same time, you shouldn't make it too easy for your opponents! The highest-scoring seven-letter Scrabble-legal English word is QUARTZY - meaning like quartz. Played across a triple word Premium Square, with the Q or Z falling on a double-letter, it scores 164 points. Variations These are some of the variations you can play to provide an additional challenge for experienced players: You may change the arrangement of a word to an anagram before you play your turn, as long as it does not create any words that are not usable. You may potentially improve your chances of scoring bigger and better this way, by opening up a possible modification or access to a Premium Square. You may replace letters on the board with letters from your rack as long as it does not form unusable words. You can use any word you want - and the usual restrictions on words (no abbreviations, no proper nouns, etc) do not apply. You may replace the blank tiles with the letters they represent (if you have that letter on your rack) after they have been played, in order to keep the blank tiles in use.

You start the game with nine tiles and always draw back up to nine when you replace or exchange your tiles. You can stack tiles on top of other tiles to form new words - as long as it does not result in any unusable words. The one-off use of Premium Squares still applies. 1 A Super Scrabble variant exists with a 21 x 21 board, 200 letter tiles and Quadruple Scoring spaces. 2 Butts' architectural credits include a housing development on Staten Island, a Stanfordville library and a small number of elegant country houses in Connecticut. 3 Scrabble comes in a variety of versions, including standard, deluxe - with wooden components, a velvet-style tile bag and swivel board-mount, and specials - like the pink standard set for Breakthrough breast cancer or The Simpsons Scrabble, which adds additional rules that allow you to help yourself or hinder your opponents. 4 Which can be decided in a number of ways. You can simply flip a coin , draw straws or roll dice. You can also each draw tiles, and the player with the tile closest to the beginning of the alphabet goes first. 5 The vital force inherent in all things, according to certain avenues of Chinese thought.

Stefan Fatsis is the author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic and is a panelist on Hang Up and Listen . Follow him on Twitter. Any Scrabble player can tell you that the X is actually worth eight points. But as Butts was creating the game, in a fifth-floor walkup in Queens, he tinkered—with the layout of the board, with the total number of tiles, with their distribution, and with their respective point values. “It’s not hit or miss,” Butts said long afterward. “It’s carefully worked out.” Seventy-five years later, Butts’ carefully worked out point values are under attack. Late last month, a University of California–San Diego, cognitive science postdoc and casual player named Joshua Lewis conducted a computer analysis to recalibrate Scrabble’s letter values based on the game’s current lexicon. Lewis reposted his findings to Hacker News, and they were picked up by Digg and went viral. Around the same time, Sam Eifling, writing for Deadspin, asked a programmer friend to do the same . Both were inspired by the fact that while the language had changed dramatically from the time Butts performed his calculations, the game of Scrabble had not.

Advertisement It’s a fair observation. Since Scrabble was adopted in chess parlors in New York in the 1950s, competitive players have dissected its strategic quirks. One early realization was that short words have outsized value, so players scoured the preferred source (the now-defunct Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary) and compiled lists of two- and three-letter words. They also recognized that the most common letters showed up in a lot of words, so they recorded and memorized seven- and eight-letter words—ones that would earn the 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles at once—that contained A, E, I, N, R, S, and T, among other single-point letters. You didn’t need a computer to see that the Q, though worth the most points, was a pain in the rack but the Z not so much. Since the publication in 1978 of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, a compilation of several standard college dictionaries, the game’s word list has grown by tens of thousands of words.

From a playing vantage, the addition of QI (a Chinese life force) and ZA (short for pizza) in the last lexicon update, in 2006, were game-changers. Players feared the new words would cheapen Scrabble, boosting scoring and elevating the role of chance. It didn’t happen. The Q became less of a hindrance, a slightly fairer tile than before, and players adjusted strategy to account for the new gimmes. That need to adjust validates Lewis’ and Eifling’s suspicion that the values assigned to letters aren’t in perfect harmony with the frequency of their use in English or in its narrower subset, the Scrabble word list. The two approached the problem differently. Eifling and software developer Kyle Rimkus totaled the number of letters in Scrabble-eligible words (1.58 million), isolated the frequency of each letter, and then calculated how overvalued or undervalued each letter was compared to its existing point value. Lewis’ approach was more complicated.

He weighted letters not only by appearance in the Scrabble lexicon but also by the frequency with which they appear in words of different lengths (with emphasis on two-, three-, seven-, and eight-letter words) and by their ability to “transition” into and out of other letters. The findings don’t differ much. In both analyses, the values of about half the letters change by one or two points. One or the other found that B, C, F, H, K, M, P, X, Y, and Z are overvalued, which makes some intuitive sense. For instance, the X (eight points) and the Z (10) can be easy money, especially since they occur in a number of short words; bumping them down to six points apiece is a logical move. Similarly, the H was set by Butts at four points, but it now appears in nine two-letter words and combines beautifully with other letters, while the M appears in 12 two-letter words. Living-room players detest the C, but they haven’t studied seven- and eight-letter “bingos,” in which C’s abound.

The clunky U and V, by contrast, are undervalued—ratcheting them up to two points and five points respectively seems reasonable. Advertisement While the media pounced on the story (I joined in ), the Scrabble community has been largely unmoved. Why? Several reasons. One, the game’s owners, Hasbro in North America and Mattel overseas, aren’t changing anything. Two, such proposed rejiggerings aren’t new. Three, players understand that variances, in letter values and tile distribution (too many I’s, the Q without a U), are part of the game and strategize accordingly. Four, there are other, arguably more sophisticated ways to assess tiles values. Five, and most important, adjusting any core variables would create a completely different game requiring different strategies. “It's basically saying, Let’s change the game to make a new game,” Jason Katz-Brown, a software engineer who co-wrote Scrabble’s best computer player, Quackle , told me. Let’s examine the potential effects of the “new” values. In both Lewis’ and Deadspin’s calculations, 10 tiles decrease in value, four increase, and 12 don’t change.

More tiles fall in a band of two to five points, bringing the utility of each closer together. The consensus of my math-brained Scrabble colleagues is that this would be like a dose of lithium for the game, flattening scoring and eliminating swings that keep games interesting. Big but still-reasonable values for some tiles, especially the X and Z, are good because they improve the odds of comebacks, make tile positioning a compelling strategic consideration, and give players with lesser word knowledge a slightly better chance against those who are booked up. “Except for the Q, Josh [Lewis] basically squashes the volatility,” said Eric Chaikin, co-director of the Scrabble documentary Word Wars . “His values take the fun out.” Quackle co-writer John O’Laughlin, a software engineer at Google, said the existing inequities also confer advantages on better players, who understand the “equity value” of each tile—that is, its “worth” in points compared with the average tile. That gives them an edge in balancing scoring versus saving letters for future turns, and in knowing which letters play well with others.

“If we tried to equalize the letters, this part of the game wouldn't be eliminated, but it would definitely be muted,” O’Laughlin said. “Simply playing the highest score available every turn would be a much more fruitful strategy than it currently is.” In response to Lewis’ findings , John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association and a mathematics doctoral student at the University of Toronto, wrote that Scrabble has always had an “intentional” imbalance between the face value and the equity value of the letters. Whenever the game’s lexicon changes—a fifth edition of the Scrabble dictionary is due in 2014—players adapt. “The tile values were chosen to make an interesting game, not to accurately represent the statistical properties of a particular lexicon,” he wrote. Advertisement In fact, for Alfred Butts, the face value of the letters was secondary to their distribution.

That’s because Butts’ original research was for a word-formation game called Lexiko, which didn’t involve a board and didn’t assign points to individual letters.* In the early 1930s, on spreadsheets containing 26 rows, one for each letter, Butts tallied tens of thousands of letters from the pages of the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and the Saturday Evening Post. Then he compared the frequency with which the letters occurred, both on their own and as part of words of particular lengths. From those tabulations, he determined how many of each letter should be included in his game. Criss-Cross Words, Alfred Butts' prototype for Scrabble Courtesy National Scrabble® Association. Butts manufactured and sold a few hundred sets of Lexiko from his Queens walkup, but Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, among others, rejected it. In 1938, Butts decided to add a board. That’s when he assigned values to letters roughly corresponding with their frequency. Butts’ files, which I read while researching my book Word Freak , contain pages of spreadsheets and notes about letter frequency and tile distribution.

But there’s little about how he settled on the point values for his new game, which he named Criss-Cross Words. He did experiment, though. I found one iteration in which the Z was worth nine points; the K and V six; and the B, F, and W five. And there’s the plywood evidence of my six-point X. My conclusion: Butts coupled intuition with direct observation of the game in action—he tested it on his wife and their friends—to arrive at values that he felt balanced equity and volatility. (Not that he would have used those words.) So, for instance, while Butts might have suspected the X was logically worth six points, he understood that eight would make the game more exciting. Similarly, while Butts included a lexicographically reasonable seven S’s in Lexiko, he knew the letter was so valuable for pluralizing words that he should reduce the number in his board game, which he did, to four. (As with Lexiko, Butts made and sold Criss-Cross Words from his apartment with no success. In 1948, he sold its rights to a small businessman, James Brunot of Newtown, Conn., who renamed, redesigned, and manufactured the game.

Five years later, Scrabble became a national sensation. Butts received royalties until 1976. He died in 1993.) Scrabble inventor Alfred Butts Courtesy National Scrabble® Association. Advertisement Lewis and Eifling performed a statistical exercise that can help lay players reconsider particular letters based on the overall lexicon. “Get rid of your J and your Q as quickly as possible, because they’re just damn hard to play and will clog your rack,” Eifling concluded, correctly. A deeper dive would involve valuing each letter based on how it is actually used in Scrabble, because words of certain lengths or lexicographic properties might be more or less useful when playing the game. Lewis’ program didn’t consider, for instance, longer combinations of letters, or the importance of four- and five-letter words. “The game isn’t about drawing words at random from the dictionary,” Chew wrote. “It’s about actually finding places to play them on the board.” Chew’s and O’Laughlin’s approach to reconsidering the face values of the tiles involves adjusting their equity values. Equity value in Scrabble is similar to advanced baseball stats that compare players to an “average” replacement.

Scrabble theorists have been calculating this stat—let’s call it VORT, or Value Over Replacement Tile—since the 1980s. “The Barry Bonds of the Scrabble set,” O’Laughlin said, is the blank, with a VORT of about 25 points. That means a blank plus six random tiles will likely net 25 more points than seven random tiles. At the other end, the Q has the lowest VORT, about -7 points. To perform a revaluation using VORT, Chew and O’Laughlin would shift the equity value of positive tiles downward and negative tiles upward, have Quackle play thousands of games against itself using those new values, and keep adjusting the values and making Quackle play until the equity of each tile approaches zero. At that point, the tiles could be given corresponding face values, which would be based on how Scrabble is played by the world’s best player. Chew and O’Laughlin said they aren’t interested in conducting that analysis because it would be time-consuming and wouldn’t add to the understanding of the game.

But they have begun trading emails with Lewis, who told me he’s eager to work with the Scrabble quants to learn more and find ways to study the statistical properties of the tiles further. Which shows how, in contrast to the way this story is being framed in the media—Scrabble Controversy!—it’s really just a bunch of curious living-room players and super-smart computer guys swapping ideas about game theory and analysis. Lewis isn’t demanding that the game’s manufacturers change anything, just performing an interesting statistical and intellectual exercise. Still, he does believe, as he wrote in a new post on Wednesday , that tweaking Scrabble’s tile values would “keep the intentional luck in the game and remove the unintentional luck that has crept in over time as the use of English has changed.” He’s perplexed as to why competitive Scrabble players wouldn’t favor mediating some of the luck, because that might make the results of games and tournaments more accurate. I can answer that. Because Scrabble players understand that the game’s inequities are on the margins, and that figuring them out is a crucial part of learning to play well.

And we respect, and are in fact awed by, how Alfred Butts, without the benefit of computer programs and language databases, came damn close to nailing both letter distribution and letter valuation, and in the process created a game that exquisitely, often maddeningly, balances skill and luck. Making the X worth six points won’t improve on that. Correction, Jan. 19, 2013: This article originally misspelled the name of Alfred Butts’ first word game, Lexiko.

Question: Which is the only Scrabble tile worth 5 points
Answer: K